I just found out about a TV show that starts tomorrow night on HBO it’s called the Weight of the Nation and you can find out more about it on the HBO site. There is also a companinion book, and you can get the speical on DVD (it spans four hours of material). From the trailer, it appears that the US obesity epidemic will ruin our country very soon (if we have national health coverage and we are all sick, we will tax ourselve to feath to pay for our bad eating habits). We need to fix this today.

The Weight of the Nation List Price: $19.97 Price: $13.98 Read Reviews

Here are some shoicking stats:

% of every food dollar American Spent outside of home

1972 $34.2

2008 $47.9

Total calroies available per person in the US food supply every day

1978 2188
2009 2594

% of obese US adolescents (12-19)

1980 5%

2008 18%

Calroies in average servings of Fries

1983 210

2003 610

Millions of American diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes

1986: 6.4 million

20102: 1.1 million

% of high school students attending PE class every day

1991: 41.6

2009: 33.3%

Hours of media used byu childten every day age 8-18

2004:  6:21

2009:  7:38

The Weight of the Nation: Surprising Lessons About Diets, Food, and Fat from the Extraordinary Series from HBO Documentary Films List Price: $25.99 Price: $16.62 Read Reviews

Listen to this book for free when you go to www.audibletrial.com/dave

What If You tracked Everything And Your Still Not Losing Weight?

I treally tracked all of my food and activity last week. On those days that I ate more than my targeted 1700 calroies, I exercised more. At the end of the week I had gone up 1 lb. When I looked into it I saw where I was averageing 1880 calories a day. We know these are fairly acurate as we are going by the information on the labels and paying attention to serving sizes. So what gives? Well the only other piece of the puzzle is the calroies burned during exercise. With this in mind, I will focus on hitting my goal for calories in, and ignore (kind of) how many calories I burn off. In the end its calories in vs calories out. If I track all my calories in, and still gain weight, then I nkow I can cut back on the calroies and I should lose.

The key to this is brutal honesty when entering food. A difference of 150 calories a day can add up over a month.

Remember the only thing you have absolute control over is you. While I found all this effort frustrating, I know in the end if I watch my calories in, and keep exercises the weight will drop off eventually. Quitting will not get me where I need to go.

 FitBolt – Nuges You To Get Out of your Chair

I’m going to be interviewing a representative from Fitbolt.com this week, but couldn’t wait to tell you about this cool website. It is a timer that alerts you to get up and stretch and do exercises. It’s free, and is a great way to keep you focused (not to mention burn a few extra calories while you’re at your desk). I’ll talk more about this in the future, but for now check out www.fitbolt.com

Mentioned on the Show – Treadmill Desks

Robert Chazz Chute talks about making a “Treadmill Desk” out of stuff from around the house in his latest “Self Help For Stoners” podcast. His is much cheaper than the FitDesk X Compact Pedal Desk ($250) or the TrekDesk Treadmill Desk ($542). I’m not sure I’d trust the SurfShelf Treadmill Desk ($39) with my laptop (maybe my iPad, if I had an iPad….

Poll of the Week

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I think we all have been there. Life has kicked us in the teeth. We put in the time. We put in the work. The results are not what we expected. We feel, “What’s the point?” We ponder the thought of quitting. I’ve said it over and over. It’s hard to beat someone who refuses to quit. I did a quick search on quitting, and found some inspirational stories to help us over the quitting hump.

My Lamp Has Burned Out – Rekindling the Fire

1. Accept the fact (admit) your flame has dimmed.
2. Change your routine.
3. Exercise and eat healthy.
4. Get enough sleep.
5. Routinely take complete days off.
6. Learn something new as it relates to your business.
7. Hang around someone who’s on fire.

Pick one thing this week to change for the better. Dont’ try to change your whole life. Pick ONE thing that will push you toward your goals. While you’re at it, pick ONE item that you won’t do in the future. I know right now every time I waste 30 minutes on netflix I think, “that program wasn’t that good, and I could’ve been exercising.” For me, I think Netflix is on the chopping block.

Abraham Lincoln Didn’t Quit

Probably the greatest example of persistence is Abraham Lincoln. If you want to learn about somebody who didn’t quit, look no further.

Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown.

He could have quit many times – but he didn’t and because he didn’t quit, he became one of the greatest presidents in the history of our country.

Lincoln was a champion and he never gave up. Here is a sketch of Lincoln’s road to the White House:

• 1816 His family was forced out of their home. He had to work to support them.
• 1818 His mother died.
• 1831 Failed in business.
• 1832 Ran for state legislature – lost.
• l832 Also lost his job – wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in.
• 1833 Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt.
• 1834 Ran for state legislature again – won.
• 1835 Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and his heart was broken.
• 1836 Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.
• 1838 Sought to become speaker of the state legislature – defeated.
• 1840 Sought to become elector – defeated.
• 1843 Ran for Congress – lost.
• 1846 Ran for Congress again – this time he won – went to Washington and did a good job.
• 1848 Ran for re-election to Congress – lost.
• 1849 Sought the job of land officer in his home state – rejected.
• 1854 Ran for Senate of the United States – lost.
• 1856 Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party’s national convention – get less than 100 votes.
• 1858 Ran for U.S. Senate again – again he lost.
• 1860 Elected president of the United States.

Lincoln could’ve easily quit many times in his life. I’m so glad he didn’t. When you don’t quit on health, your children, and your friends, your family thank you.

The Old Mule in the Well

Music Used in This Episode

Get Back Price: $0.99 Read Reviews

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I was never aware how some people DREAD stepping on scale. Even when they lose weight they get depressed they get filled with self-hatred because they see how far they need to go. There is a new produce on the market called the Quantum Scale. This has been on the Tara show, Dr. Oz, and others. Its a new twist on stepping on the scale. Here is how it works:

1. You press the program button and then step on the scale.

2. The Scale measures you and records your weight.

3. The next time you step on the scale it only shows your progress – NOT your weight.

The thought being that this helps you focus on the positive and highlights where you’ve come – not so much how far you need to go. I love this idea, and I am intrigued on how motivational this would be. I have a similar app for my android phone that does make me feel better when it displays how far I’ve come. It’s currently not available at Amazon.com but is available internationally, and you can order with paypal or a credit car from their website at quantumscale.com

If you have one of these, please let me know what you think of it. If there is a drawback its that it only tracks weight for one person, but at $59 its affordable enough for everyone to buy one for each person. It comes in six different colors to help match you home.

Getting Your Body Ready For Summer

With Spring upon us, its only a matter of time until Summer arrives with swim suit season. Here are some tips from the people at fitday.com for shedding some pounds between now and then:

Avoid drinking your calories (that 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew is 290 calories).

Opt for fruit instead of desert. Go for what and gum instead of the pastry.

Leave a few bites on your plate. Your Mom said clean your plate, fitday is saying not to if you want to shed some pounds. Those bites add up.

Snack smart. Search for healthier snacks as many times its these “small” treats that up to big weight issues. Cut your snack calories in half and see how the weight drops off.

If you’ve never heard of Fitday, that have a website where you can track your calories, foods, and moods. There is a version you can install locally on your computer if you’d rather not have to use the Internet to put in your information.

Fit or Fat Book From Covert Bailey

Steve from Idaho loves the podcast and wanted to let me know he went to supporthisshow.com before making the purchase of Fit or Fat from Covert Bailey (one of my favorite books on weight loss).

The Ultimate Fit or Fat List Price: $12.95 Price: $3.90 Read Reviews

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Subscribe via Hate Looking at the Scale? Quantum Scale Helps You Focus on the Positve

In today’s podcast we talk about a new sight where you can make a pact with yourself to go to the gym a certain amount of times per week, and if you don’t make it to the gym you lose your money. If you meet your pact, you earn the money of those who didn’t make it to the gym. Learn more information here.

New Study Shows Eating Less and Exercising More leads to weight loss

Seven Habits of Weight Loss

I saw a video with Dr Oz on Yahoo where he mentioned the seven habits of people who are thin. If you give yourself 15 points for each one of these you do, you can grade yourself. For example I do two of these. This gives me a score fo 30% out of 100. Then I wonder why I’m over-weight.

1. Exercise in the morning
2. Eat Smaller meals through the day
3. Eat Slower and Walk away when full
4. Not skipping breakfast
5. Better Monitors of their health – Journals
6. Fitness hobby outside of the gym Bike, Swim, Baseball, etc
7. Water, Water, and Water

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In looking at Carnie Wilson and her choice to get a second weight loss surgery, I found this information about Weight Loss Surgery regarding Vertical Banded Gastroplasty.

Patients generally lose about half of their excess body weight in the first year after restrictive procedures. However, in the first 3 to 5 years after VBG patients may regain some of the weight they lost. By 10 years, as few as 20 percent of patients have kept the weight off. (Although there is less information about long-term results with AGB, there is some evidence that weight loss results are better than with VBG.) Some patients regain weight by eating high-calorie soft foods that easily pass through the opening to the stomach. Others are unable to change their eating habits and do not lose much weight to begin with. Successful results depend on the patient’s willingness to adopt a long-term plan of healthy eating and regular physical activity.

Between 15 and 20 percent of VBG patients may have to undergo a second operation for a problem related to the procedure. Although restrictive operations are the safest of the bariatric procedures, they still carry risk in less than 1 percent of all cases, complications can result in death.

Total operations performed according to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery are as follows:

2005    171,000

2004    140,000

2003    103,200

Jacqueline Odom, PhD, the psychological director of the Beaumont Weight Control Center in Royal Oak, Mich., evaluates patients that are on the path to weight loss surgery to help make sure they are ready for this step and to handle the life afterward. In this article she stated”

“A lot of people want a magic bullet and really don’t understand what is involved,” she tells WebMD.

The new stomach requires several tiny, nutrient-rich meals a day supplemented with additional vitamins and minerals. Eating too much or indulging in rich, sugary or fried foods can overload the pouch and cause dumping — a term used to describe the sweats, chills and nausea that result from food filling the pouch and overflowing straight into the small intestine.

The re-feeding process starts with getting in protein because that will repair the cells and help them heal after surgery. “We use liquid protein supplements to start, then pureed foods, then soft foods like scrambled eggs and then eventually graduate to other foods,” Odom says.

“It’s not glamorous,’ she says. “You have to chew your food more thoroughly then you ever did and really emulsify it. You must eat very slowly and in small portions.”

Emory’s Smith adds: “The volume of food they can eat and the types of food they can eat changes dramatically. And there are indirect changes surrounding eating. Many people who eat for social reasons have significant changes in interpersonal relationships.”

Another Article on WebMD stated this:

For starters, Odom tells WebMD, there are the chemical changes that are causing a loss in appetite. The hormone ghrelin decreases in patients after gastric bypass surgery. This contributes to the decrease in appetite, which helps people not crave foods they used to.

However, she adds, most of the patients report that this stabilizes and that their urges for food start coming back within six to nine months.

Three months after her surgery, Kathy, 43, a home health care specialist in Watervliet, Mich., eats by the clock.

“You are on a really strict regimen of eating six times day,” she says. But “I have no desire to eat.”

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Today we get some insights from a listener who has lost over 63 lbs. Way to go Nancy. Also special thanks to Gail from Australia who got a fitbit, and a gymboss.

Quick Notes:

Runkeeper now allows you to set goals, and alert friends.

My Stiiv took a nasty dive, and lived to tell. Woo-hoo!

You can get your own personal trainer at Fitorbit.com Plans go from $10 -$20 a week.

Jillian Michaels now has a show on Youtube.

Obeying May Not Be Our Nature

I was listening to Mark Gungor who is the man behind the Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage (a great DVD set), and in one of his sermons he mentioned that many Christians haven’t read any of the gospels from start to finish, and if he have read it, we still don’t want to do what Jesus said to do. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This country (US) was started by people who basically said, “You can’t tell me what to do!” Keep in mind that you don’t always have to understand something to obey it. We also don’t have to agree with something to obey it. In general it is our nature to do what we want. However, that may not be what is best for you (i.e. Chocolate cake). When we fight the urge to “do what we want” we are actually putting ourselves first. It doesn’t feel that way, but in the long run you will feel better.

When I was in my 20s I was told to start putting “just a little” part of my paychecks aside into a savings account and I would be REALLY glad I did when I was older. I didn’t – I sure wish I had. It was great advice. But I “did what I wanted” and now later I regret some of those financial decisions. We are all going to follow this and be feeling the same way about our health. Time and time again we read to eat less and exercise more. We need to obey this command and realzie that we may not agree with it, and we may not understand it, but we need to OBEY the truth that is the fact that if you eat more calories than you burn you gain weight. Consequently, we need to exercise more and eat less.

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Healthy Eating Starts at the Grocery Store

If you don’t buy chips and ice cream, you can’t eat chips and ice cream. In almost every book I’ve read about losing weight and staying healthy they always note that one of the worst things you can do is go to the grocery store when you are hungry. If you want to take a bad idea to the next level, go to the grocery store when you’re hungry, and you didn’t create a list.

By having a shipping list you can look at it and know if you’re headed in the right direction.

High Tech Grocery Lists

Mighty Grocery
I decided to see what kind of grocery list tools I could get on my phone (android). I found Mighty Grocery. I love it as it uses the voice recognition to enter items into my list. If you put out the money for the pro version (just a few bucks) you can use your scanner on your phone to scan in items as you create your meals, and then they are already on your list. If you want to get super specific, you can enter what aisle and amount for each item. There is a web based version so I can add items to my list (or my family could add items to the list after I leave for the store). If you enter the pricing information you can see how much your trip to the store will cost. You check items off as you go. It’s pretty cool. The voice recognition is pretty spot on.

Food on the Table

Food on the table allows you to select your local grocery store, select your favorite foods, and select your motivation for shopping (healthy, etc). It then provides meals and recipes and grocery lists. It also has an android and iPhone app. You can print your list, or view it on your smart phone.

Meals Matter

Meals Matter promotes nutrient-rich food choices from all five food groups, and strives to equip family meal preparers with the tools and resources they need to make meal planning decisions that lead to better health.  When you sign up you are provided with recipe ideas and more information focused on meal planning. No smart phone required.

Plan To Eat

Plan to Eat was born out of our desire to eat real food — great food — prepared at home, together as a family. But without planning, it just didn’t happen as often as we wanted. Plan to Eat organizes all of your recipies in one place. You can drag and drop recipes into a food planner. YOur food planner then automatically creates your shopping list. It’s $4.95 a month, or $40 a year.

SparkPeople

If you’re using Sparkpeople to track your food, you can create a grocery list based on the items you’ve consumed.

Do you have a favorite Grocery List tool? Leave a comment below.

Fitness Tips from the Audience

Kelly Preston said this on the Lose it Forums” ” I’m making one of my family’s favorites Alton Brown’s swiss steak. Out of curiosity I looked it up on LINE before entering my recipe. If you order the swiss steak at Dennys you will pay a whopping 1000 calories no sides included. If you make your own swiss steak and modify the amount of fat you brown your meat in (1/4 cup bacon grease, uh no) and watch the serving size you can have an entire meal for half that. I’m talking about a decadent meal with real mashed potatoes or none if you are low carbing it. The point is do they give you a lumberjack size serving or just put a block of lard in all the food? BTW if you work for Dennys I am in no way meaning to insult you. Just my observations”

Quick Fitness Motivation

“Now matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch.”

“Losers look at what they are going through, Winners look at where they are going TO.”

“People who say it couldn’t be done, should get out of the way of the people who are doing it.”

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If you’ve listened to the show before, you know that I’m a huge fan of the fitbit. In today’s podcast I talk about using a Striiv unit. It’s SUPER easy, and super motivational. It doesn’t need a computer and when you turn it on it walks you through setting it up. From there as you start moving it tracks your movements, and rewards you for moving, while motivating to move more. There are challenges that are organized by difficulty. When you win these you are awarded bonus points (for example take 200 steps in 15 minutes). This can be huge for your self-esteem. The easy challenges are just that – easy (at least for me). This means when you’re first starting out you will be able to complete these challenges and boost your confidence. The Stiiv makes fitness a fun game that you play against yourself.  The thing that I found very cool is it politely nudges you to do just a little more. When I got done walking for 15 minutes, it asked me to walk three more minutes. I accepted the challenge. By doing “just a little more” I can see where these little challenges will add up.

It’s not surprising that the Average Striiv users walk 60 minutes a day–almost double the national average. The other thing that makes the unit easy to use is the display is two inches. For me it makes it easy to read. It even has a small speaker for the “Myland” video game that is built into the unit (where you earn points and unlock different aspects of the game by moving).

If I had one concern (but not really) it would be about its accuracy. To make a long story short, I did three tests of walking on a flat hallway where I counted 50 steps. In those three tests of 50 steps, the fitbit was only off by one step. The strivv was off by 7. By the end of the day, my fitbit said I had 1000 more steps than the striiv. As I look at my readout now, my fitbit says I’ve taken 1565 steps. The striiv says I’ve taken 1097. When you think about it, if you want your tracking device to be inaccurate you want it to report LESS so you walk MORE (most treadmills grossly exagerate calories burned).  Likewise there is a fairly large discrepancy in terms of calories burned at the end of the day. I don’t count this as a huge negative as I’m not sure any device is going to accurately calculate how many calories I burn based on my age, height, and weight. It’s always a guestimate.

It takes 2 hours to charge the unit if you’re plugging it into the wall, and four hours if you’re charging it via a USB cable plugged into a computer. Once charged, it should last about a week without needing recharged.

The one thing that motivated me (that I didn’t expect to motivate me)  was the “Walkathon” where I signed up (for free) to have water donated for people in Africa every time I go 18,000 steps. That moved me to keep moving when I got up to 17,000 steps. And I can always see how close I am to my next water donation.

If someone said “which one would you pick” in regards to the Striiv vs Fitbit, its hard. The one thing that a fitbit does is you can use their website (for free) to track your calories, sleep, and much more and if you really want to diagnose your weight loss efforts, it’s a great tool. If I’m looking for motivation to keep moving? I really liked the Striiv and its ever so polite “nudging.” I liked the easy to read graphics, stats, etc without needing a computer. With the different levels of challenges, and all the stats I don’t see myself getting bored with this unit any time soon. I can see where I’m much less likely to lose the Strivv (being bigger and white), but the flip slide to that is when you are wearing the clip you are aware of it (which is why I’ve been putting it in my pocket instead). I guess it depends on what you are looking to do. Both are great motivational tools.

Check out fitbit.com and watch pick up a Striiv at Amazon.com

Fitdeck Nutrition

Fitdeeck has come out with a new set of cards and tools in their “Fitdeck Nutrition” section. Fitdeck nutrition focuses on portion control, eating balanced meals, and getting plenty of hydration. To help you with these goals, there is the Fitdeck nutrition which coaches you on good nutritional choices, and you can pickup a Fitdeck Plate. This plate is divided into a proteain, frutis, vegetables on the plate. This solves the problem of portion control. They also have the fitdcup. This has a system to help you track how many 16 glasses of water you’re consumed throughout the day (it’s cool, but it’s no hydrocoach or Thermos with a meter) the Fitcup goes for $15. The fitplate goes for $15 as well. I love my fitdeck cards as they are very portable, it stops workouts from being boring, and you don’t need any weights (for me at least I use the body weight deck). Best of all they are inexpensive. If you’re interested head on over to fitdeck.com and use the fitdeck coupon code logical10 to get 10% off your purchase.

For more information check out fitdeck.com

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Today we find out that if you want to burn some serious calories, well in the immortal words of David Lee Roth – JUMP. It incinerated 100 calories in fewer than 8 minutes. “When it comes to cardio, nothing burns better than jumping rope, and it tones head-to-toe,” says Gerald Calvo, group fitness manager of Equinox in New York City and creator of its Rope Burn class. Fine-tune your form with his tips, then hop to it for up to 5 minutes for a warm-up, 20 minutes for a full cardio session, or 30 seconds between strength sets to drop pounds by leaps and bounds.  read full article.

Looking for some jump ropes?

You can get and Adjustable length jump rope for less than $20.

Sports Bra Fitting Reviews – Avoiding uni-Boob, Side Boob and all Points in Between…

We get some insights into Sports bras from Bari Lieberman. She tested the following models:
Panache Women’s Underwired Sports Bra

Enell Sports Bras – Ecru – 00

Under Armour – Armour Bra (1233074)

Losing Weight ons an insane schedule -

Robert lost 100 lbs!

Define what you have control over (and what you don’t) then identify opportunities and make the most of them. It its only 15 minutes, then make it a good 15 minutes. Treat your exercise like your second job. You can’t write it off. Good stuff. Full Article.

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Today we mention a new tools that your fitbit ties into (myfitnesspal), we have some tips and tips to keep you moving in the right direction.

Slimkicker.com

Slimkicker.com is a brand new website that has everything you need.

1. Track your food and your exercise.

2. Forums to get that social support.

3. Motivational tools like competitions, and different levels.

I also love their very simple interface that displays some great information. It’s in beta, but you can check it out at slimkicker.com

Free Interval Trainer For Your Smart Phone

In today’s episode I start a free interval trainer for your smart phone. You can create custom routines, and workouts. The best part is its free. For more information go to www.runkeeper.com If you don’t have a smart phone, check out Gym Boss.

Jerome Merlau lost 100 pounds a year ago.

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In the past we talked about the S2H products that you kids can wear and earn points to redeem for prizes. There is even a S2H Pedometer that gives you a code when you walk 10,000 steps.  Earlier this week I discovered via the Biggest Loser their Slimcoach device (it’s actually a MyTrak device). It has some great features like the ability to use a hear rate monitor in tandom with its pedometer features.  You can also use it if you swim. It’s got ONE button to make it super easy to use. It is $129 a year. You can read more details here.

In looking at some articles about this device I found a new device that should excite those people who want it easy, and do NOT want to mess with a computer. It’s called the Striiv Personal Trainer. I can see this as a great tool for both adults and children. In fact they just came out with a new feature where you can challenge another Stiiv user to a challenge (again without a computer). It seems really cool. It’s super easy and every night at midnight it resets your stats.  There are multiple ways to motivate you to move.

1. If you are a person who cares about the suffering in the world, when you walk you can donate your steps towards goals such a vaccines, water, and the rain forest.

2. If you are a competitive person, you can track your best efforts and try to better them.

3. There are challenges that you can do (again very game based) that make it fun as well as challenging.

4. There is a “myland” game where you walk to generate energy and then use the energy in the game to build things. If you’ve see “the SIMS” video game, this reminds me of that, or Farmville. Two words: very cool. I love this thinking outside the box. I have a niece who graduate high school with a year of college credits as she started learning very early when we bought her computer games. When you’re having fun, it doesn’t seem like work.

It does track both your steps, stairs, calories burned, and distance. It can be carried on your hip, pockets, purses, or even clipped to a key chain (how cool). It has multiple sensors to detect your activity. The price is $99, and I could see this being something that parents could use to introduce fitness back into the family (assuming you don’t have 5 kids).

I’m going to contact the company about getting my hands on one for some real life experience with the unit. From the videos I’ve watched this could be a very cool product.

Buy at AMAZON.com

Rebounding From a Bad Week

I’m bummed that after losing weight fora few weeks, in just a few days I seem to have gained a lot of it back. It reminds me of standing on a treadmill. When you walk on it, you don’t seem to get anywhere but if you stop, you will go backwards. With me, I took my focus on my health for a few days and that weight came right back. Am I upset? Sure. But lets harness that frustration at the gym, and instead take a look at the week and analyze it. For me this coming week I will be traveling. I need to pack some food, and find something to do if I get bored (luckily a planet fitness is about 5 minutes from the hotel.

Don’t beat yourself up. Learn from your mistakes, and design future steps to avoid repeating your mistakes. many times this starts with getting some sleep.

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If you haven’t joined one of our competitions, today is the day to do it as they start tomorrow.

(Free) at Skinnyo.com (28 days)
Thintopia.com 12 Weeks $5
Earndit.com 28 days (trackers)

I accidentally state in this podcast that they start on Monday. That is WORNG (and I don’t have time to re-record). So join today. It’s going to be fun.

Dave

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Today we have a guest, and not just any guest! Jimmy Pena is the founder of Prayfit and has worked with people like Mario Lopez, LL Cool J, and Tyler Perry to create National Best Selling Books and DVDs. Today we talk about his new DVD called Prayfit: 33-Day Total Body Challenge its a great DVD that has you focusing on delivering your personal best for 33 Days for 33 minutes. Each workout contains challenges that last for 33 seconds. It will make you sweat.

PrayFit 33-Day Total Body Challenge utilizes the Christian faith to inspire those with weight loss goals and is a complete workout and motivational system designed to burn calories, build lean muscle and bolster your faith, helping to reshape your entire body in 33 minutes a day for 33 days.  Ideal for any fitness level, the workout includes a highly efficient 33-minute workout that combines cardio, strength and core moves for total body results in a limited amount of time, requiring no extra equipment.  The program works because it demands progression and challenges you to give your best effort. The key is to do more today than you did yesterday.  As Jimmy says, “Yesterday’s best is today’s quest.”  To encourage you to stay the course, Jimmy includes faith-based motivation throughout the workout and created weekly “PrayFit Minute” devotionals to inspire you to improve your life by honoring the one who made you.

We also talk about his book Prayfit: Your Guide to A Healthy Body and A Stronger Faith in 28 Days which churches are now using in combination with the DVD to create study groups, and bring the talk of taking care of the gift that is your body back into the church.

We answer questions such as “If I’m doing both, should I do cardio or strength training first?”

For daily inspiration, forums, nutrition, newsletters, swag, as well as videos check out www.prayfit.com

Download the DVD  in iTunes

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I created an Excel spreadsheet a while ago that people can download and use to have a Biggest Loser Competition at work, church, home, etc. The “bad” news is you either have one person acting as the Manager of the competition (which can be a hassle asking everyone for their weigh in information), or you let everyone enter their own information each week (for example at a job where the Excel file was stored on a shared network drive), and now everyone can see each other’s weight. With the success of the biggest loser, I knew their had to be other people like myself who had taken upon themselves to make having a Biggest Loser contest at work easier. There are, but before we get into that let me state a couple of things.

1. In the end if someone really wants to cheat, they will (you could always strap your fitbit to your dog…). Cheaters never win… in the long run.
2. There are more sites than these, but some of them were obviously just a tool to splash TONS of advertisements in front of you. I have one of those listed in this review, and I’ll tell you when we get there.
3. Each has its own charm with different features.

After looking at these I created some competitions.

1. Skinnyo.com is completely free. It only has room for 16 people so hurry.

2. Thintopia.com is asking for $5 per person (if you want to play for free you can, but the prize money will go to the highest percentage of weight loss who paid).Check it out.

3. If you have a tracking device (like a fitbit, or bodymedia), we have a $5 entry fee at the earndit.com site. This one should be interesting. The person with the most points wins. Sign up

Now let’s take a look at some of the sites:

Fitocracy is the game you play to improve your fitness. Play it to track your progress, compete against your friends, and get real results in your physical fitness. They are working on having a droid app (there is a mobile site). It’s free, but you can be a “hero” for $5 a month to help support the site.  You can create a group, and the look at the leaders in your group for a certain period of time. The focus of fitocracy is exercise. You can track your workout stats (reps, weight, etc). You can track cardio, and you can create routines that you repeat. Depending on what you do, you earn points. I was playing with it Internet Explorer 8 and it seemed to have some formatting issues. When I tried it on my phone, I had some issues (droid). Looks cool, and has potential. It just needs a little touch up. I will definitely check it out in a few months. It is in Beta, and you need an invite to play (contact me, or use the link above). Lots of potential here, especially for those gym rats. Even if this wasn’t a competition, having a web site that can track your exercise for free is cool.

 In the past I’ve used Weight Loss Wars. It is a website where you can join a challenge, or start your own. It costs $10 to participate, but it does all the calculations for you. You can even create a “private” challenge (for say your church group, work group, etc).  The competition only shows the change in weight, and you can choose to hide your weight in your profile (or only reveal it to friends). Visiting this site you will see a fair amount of ads. The site itself is somewhat “ho-hum” on the looks side but it does the job. There are blogs, journals, and other tools there as well. You can have it set to have a cash prize, but you would handle that outside of their site (using something like paypal).

Skinnyo.com is also free to use (unless you want a private competition where you select who is participating which costs $10). Skinnyo.com limits you to 16 people (either playing against each other or you can have up to 8 teams).  Skinnyo only shows your weight differences to other users not your weight. If don’t have a giant group, and want to have teams this is a cool option. The way they calculate challenge winners is by the total weight lost during the challenge (which I think means percentage of weight loss?). If you’re looking to do teams, this would be my choice. I’m currently kicking the tires on this site and will let you know.

Thintopia.com is another great site that is 100% completely free, and yet not overrun with ads (there are some, but a tolerable amount).  It’s from a software engineer named Micah Stubblefield. I love that it’s just some dude in his basement (like me), and he is struggling with his weight (like me). There are no limits to the number of people you can have in your competition. I don’t see an option for teams, but again your weight is not displayed only your change. Micah answered all my emails, and seems like a very cool dude. If you want to have a “Private” competition all you need to do is assign a password, and only those people who you give the password to will have access to join. Unless I needed teams, (and without using the site yet) this to me seems to be the clear winner. The site has great content. It’s easy to navigate. While it lacks a “FAQ” page, my questions were answered in minutes – not days. I’m currently kicking the tires on this site and will let you know.

Earndit.com is a great site for those who are worried about people cheating. earndit.com assigns points that come from people who are using a tracking device like a Fitbit, or bodymedia, or Nike+, Garmin, Runkeeper, etc. You get 10 points for running a mile, and 3 points for biking a mile. You get 15 points for checking in at the gym using foursquare.com. You get .10 point for being fairly active on a Fitbit, and .75 for every very active minute on a Fitbit. You get the idea. You can set a number of points and the first person to it wins, or set a date range and the person with the most points wins.  You can set a maximum number of points per day a person can earn to keep things close. You can compete for bragging rights, or you can have people pay to get in, and the winner automatically gets a gift card (a tango card  which is a pretty cool prize). This is the only site that takes care of collecting fees, and distributing payouts. If you’re not looking for a competition, you can use earndit.com by yourself and earn points that can be used towards shopping. I am also kicking the tires on this one.

Another free option (not really worth looking into) is Corporate Fitness League (this is the site with LOTS of Ads). You can take on your family, or go department against department if you have more than 10 people and want to go teams. You designate a captain, who then has to enter everyone’s weight (As someone who as done this – that’s a deal breaker ladies!). You can “Sweeten” the pot with $, but in the end  you will need a picture of the participants scale (some organizers also require a “word of the day” so you can’t find a thin picture on Google Images) to keep people honest. I just spent about 10 minutes playing with the site and found it clunky (it seems every click opens a new window). Due to the massive amount of ads (disorganized at that), and the requirement of a “Captain,” I would not recommend this site.

Summary

I’m inspired by what people are doing to help us be competitive. If you’re a person who wants motivation to get to the gym, check out Fitocracy. If you’re worried about cheaters, or looking for a third party to handle the prizes then go to earndit.com If you want to set up teams, check out skinnyo.com (they say in special circumstances they will remove the 16 people limit). If you want to have a large group for free (and avoid a billion ads) I really liked thintopia.com

Woman’s Wii Fit Character Exploded

A British woman was so heavy that when she stepped on her Wii Fit her character exploded. Read the full story and see pictures.

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Inspirational Quotes

God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change,
the courage to change the one I can,
and the wisdom to know it’s me.

or…
Grant me the serenity to accept the past I cannot change,
the courage to change the future I can,
and the wisdom to start today.

“Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.”
*Victor Kiam*

The reason why people give up so fast is because they tend to look at how far they still have to go, instead of how far they have gotten.

Sweat is fat crying.

Pain is temporary, regret hurts forever. – Danny

The Best Video Game That Burns Almost the Same Amount of Calories as Running

An article (and video) at yahoo reports that when it comes to comparing the Wii with an Xbox with the kinect system, that there is no comparison. The test consisted of using a Heart Rate Monitor (I recommend Timex Heart Rate Monitors as you can replace the batteries) and see how many calories she burned running, and then compare it to the calories burned using the video games. She burned 259 calories in 20 minutes wen she was running. When she played the game Dance Central on the Xbox with the Kinect system she burned 251 calories. That’s only 8 calories less, and it’s FUN. The Kinect adventures had her jumping and ducking. She burned 216 calories, but her heart rate went thruogh the roof (its interval training basically). Compare these to the Wii Sword fighting game (149 calories – over 100 calories less than running), and you can see where the Wii isn’t in the same league. She did like the Biggest Loser game even though she only burned 175 calroies in 20 minutes as it mixed cardio and strength training. The games are around $40. As of this writing the Xbox with the Kinect system goes for $258 at Amazon.com

Xbox 360 4GB Console with Kinect List Price: $299.99 Price: $229.99 Read Reviews

Other Items Mentioned

Mountain Dew Story

Earndit.com

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We have a long road ahead. We need to go into this with both eyes open. One of the ways we will dodge failure is by setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely

Let’s look at those a little more specifically. A poor goal is “I want to lose weight.” Then you lose a pound. Are you done?

It has to be measurable. When something is measurable you now know if you are ahead or behind schedule. I want to lose “X” amount of pounds, or “X” number of inches of my waist.

Some say the “A” stands for Attainable, Achievable, or Agreed upon. I often use Appropriate. It doesn’t make any sense to say I’m going to swim 20 minutes a day if you do not have access to water. It also has to be something that is attainable in your mind. If you don’t think you can do it, you probably won’t.

We need Realistic goals so we don’t set ourselves up to be discouraged. If we say, “I want to lose 10 pounds in 10 days,” that is not realistic (or healthy).

A goal without a timeline is a dream. You need to add time to your goals. I usually tell people just starting out to shoot for easy goals. This might be something like,  “I will walk for 10 minutes five times this week.” It’s specific. It is measurable. It’s realistic. It has a time line. Many people try, “I will lose 10 pounds in a month.” I prefer to put time elements on action items. If you do the action items, then you will be putting yourself in place to lose weight and get healthy.

               Example Goal:

               “I will walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes (specific), 4 days this week. “

Keep in mind that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. This goal is something that you need to believe you can do. It needs to be something that you want, and something you feel you can achieve. It needs to be achievable (notice I didn’t say easy). We just need to avoid those times when we set up something that is so hard that we give up.  Then we need to add a time element so we can measure ourselves and see if we are on time.

Don’t fret if you get behind. A guided missile is “Wrong” most of its path. It radios back and sees that it’s off path and adjusts. It then radios back, and makes more adjustments. Eventually it hits the target and everyone applauds. Nobody noticed that the missile was “wrong” for most of the flight. Make your adjustments, and continue on toward your goal.

Resources to Help You Kick Off the Year In The Right Direction

I used a Myotape to measure myself so I can see where I am starting at (so I can celebrate when these numbers go down in the future). I basically measure areas at the thickest part. Here are some directions from SparkPeople.

If you need calorie tracking software check out our resources

My favorite Gadget for motivation is the Fitbit (it’s kind of like a pedometer on steriods).

Today at the gym I used my Heart Rate Monitor to push me to get my hear rate up.  I like the Timex models as you can change the batteries.

Focus on the Activity and the Results Will Follow

Some times we get fixated on the scale. Then if things don’t go the way we want, we can get discouraged and want to quit. What you may want to do is to put an activity into your goal. Such as I will walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes. This is measurable. Then after you establish that habit you can start focusing on the distance you are covering in that 30 minutes.

Fat, Sick, and Almost Dead

I watched the movie Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. This was an inspiring movie that you can watch on netflix, or watch on Hulu (which I’ve put here). The thing I found very interesting. In once scene a person who has had a heart attack starts to reboot his life by juicing. He then talks about the medication he is taking post-hart attack $571 a month.

The heart attack cost $56,424 –
Juicing For a Month $420

I liked the movie, but I’m not sure Juicing (while healthy when done right to avoid spiking your blood sugar) is a true way of life. I’m looking for lifestyle change, and I think going ALL juicing would not be able to be maintained by most people.

31 Days of Reinforcement

Spark people has a great calendar with tips for January. PDF

Music Used in Today’s Podcast

Band: Arc Angels (Stevie Ray Vaughn’s old band) “Shape I’m in” and “Good Time.”

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I received a copy of Get Healthy for Heaven’s Sake by Lisa Morrone P.T. I started reading the book, and then had to move. The book somehow didn’t make the trip. I liked the book so much, I bought a second copy so I could finish it (it’s around $10, and only $9 for the kindle version). Lisa is the author of Overcoming Overeating: It’s Not What You Eat, It’s What’s Eating You! This book is doing a great job of making see food in a completely different light.

The book hints that when you lose to fulfill a goal (fit into jeans, or see Grandchildren) that you may still miss what your lifelong task is, and thus the results may be temporary. The book states that what we should be focusing on is what God wants us to do, and realize his plans don’t include the extra weight we are carrying.

We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. EPHESIANS 2:10

In looking at our schedule, are the activities we partake in something that God wants us involved in? When someone asks you to do something, have you ever asked God if it’s a good idea?

Why you should take care of your body. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? If my body is a temple for God, then what I put into it can be an act of worship. A way to obey God, and a way to put God first. Another great analogy in the books talks about how our bodies are on loan from God. What if your mother in-laws loaned you their prized family punch bowl. When you use this, you probably don’t have any small children at the table. You handle it with care. You hand wash it. You make absolutely sure not to drop it or break it. Why? Because you know how much your mother in law values that piece. She also knows how hard it would be to replace.

Corinthians 6:19 Paul lets us know that honoring the Lord with our physical being is a command: Therefore honor God with your body.

We all know that we use food for fuel. We get hung up on how food makes US feel. This book made me change my complete outlook on fuel. Food and eating are now a way for me to praise God. It’s a way to say thank you for my body. To appreciate the one of a kind gift that he has given me. Romans 12:1: I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
Instead of worshipping food, food can be used to worship God.

The book talks about the story of Nehemiah, and points out how his quest to rebuild Jerusalem. The same steps that Nehemiah took to rebuild the city, we can use to rebuild our bodies. Nehemiah built walls (to block bad things) and gates (to let in good things). She then breaks down the seven steps of rebuilding yourself.

1. Cry out to God.

We have talked about accepting responsibility for you actions. Acknowledge what you’ve done, and realize that this won’t be fixed over night. Cry out to God for the strength to rebuild your body.

2. Seek Forgiveness

Proverbs mentions that gluttony is a sin. Take some time to identify the habits you have, and how these are not helping you take care of the gift that is your body. Ask God to forgive you.

3. Ask for Empowerment

The author makes a great point here, “God Himself. God will always grant us the power to do that which is according to His will—and by now I hope you are convinced that your improved health is most certainly God’s will for you. And the wonderful thing is that all you have to do.” The key to do this every morning, before temptation is in front of you.

4. Take an honest Assessment of your health

I’ve said it before when you are getting directions to some place, the first piece of information is your current location so you can figure out how to get from HERE to THERE. Sit down with some quiet time with God, and take a good long look at yourself.

5. Verbalize your commitment to change.

Nehemiah publicly spoke of his plans to rebuild the city walls. He did this to let people know of his plans, and to also enlist their help.

6. Develop a Detailed Action Plan.

Nehemiah knew what was broken, and who was going to rebuild that section. Not sure where to start? Ask God. When in doubt pray first.

7. Use the Buddy System

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, where Solomon observes, Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!…Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

There is another step I would add. When Nehemiah finished the rebuilding of the city walls, he celebrated. So I say celebrate when you reach a goal. If you say, “But that’s in 30 pounds!” I say, “Set goals of two pounds, and you’ll celebrate 15 times more (and you’ll build momentum and confidence along the way).

And They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Bloat

If Christians are supposed to follow God’s guidelines (the bible), we should look and act differently from those who do not. I once got a “Are you kidding me?” look at a Christmas party where I explained that I do not drink alcohol. While the bible doesn’t say “do not drink alcohol” (it says don’t get drunk), I prefer to avoid it all together. I stood out. The problem is many people think this is a Christian trying to be self-righteous. This is not the case in my situation. My point being, that in some situation we should stick out like a sore thumb. Instead according to the book Christians are more likelyto be obese than non church goers (with my old denomination the Baptists leading the way).

If we live a way that most people do not (eating healthy, honoring God for the gift of our bodies) we will live a way that most people don’t (void of medications, surgeries, and disease) in the future.

It’s time to make changes for the better in our life. Listen to Isaiah, “I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” ISAIAH 43:19

For Those Who are Not Fans of God

If you are not a fan of all this God talk, most post modernism people tend to view themselves as the creator of all things good in their lives. To this I would say, “You get one body. Take care of it. Do not put your faith in science to save you in the future. It’s not going to matter how much money you make to get the best doctors. Sadly, that didn’t work for Steve Jobs (I have no idea what Steve’s spiritual side was, my point being science can’t always save you). Honor yourself by putting good things into your body.

iPhone Gadgets

Thanks to Dav Shapiro for sending over the articles about the cool tools to help you track fitness on your iPhone. Previously you had to use a special plugin for your iPhone, (which allowed you to connect with almost all fitness equipment). Now you can connect via blue-tooth. It sounds like it’s not completely available, but here is a preview of it on YouTube.

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I just found out about a new service that if you are using a tracking tool such as a fitbit or the bodyfit media, you can sign up for a free account at earndit.com and earn points for your activity that can learn to rewards which includes points to go shopping. These include great healthy treats, as well as shoes, outdoor items, and many more. This even works with international listeners. For me I love the Bodybugg, and the Bodybuggsp, but if you are looking for something that doesn’t require a monthly fee, check out the Fit bit. To earn points at earndit.com you need a track device (if you had to manually enter the data, it might be easy to cheat).

From The Group

Dave mentions that he likes Eggies, you just have to clean them out, and spray them be before using them.

Jawbone issues refund for UP bracelets. (thanks for the heads up Dave).

The Good Old Days

In moving into a new location I had my share of looking at old pictures, etc. I realized that much like the Billy Joel song, “The Good old days weren’t always good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.”

Song used as transition ” Damaged” by Sass Jordan.

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Today I did some research and found two doctors who foudn a study from the New England Jounral of Medicine that did some research and hsowed that while people do gain weight over the year, the “10 lbs between Thanksgiving and New Years” seems to be a bit of an urban legend. You can read the full article here.

It was interesting tat an article at Fitday stated the “gain 10 lbs: meam. It did have some interesting options for staying lean duringthe holiday season. As I was over there I see where Fitday has added some new features. Mainly:

1. You can use their desktop verison and it will sync iwth their website. Very cool.

2. They have an iPhone app.

I’ve always liked Fitday’s application for tracking Exercise and Fitness as it added an emotional tracking (how dod you feel). This makes it easy to see that when you are not so happy, you are vulnerable to emotional eating. You can try a free tiral at www.logicalloss.com/fitday.

I Lost My Fitbit

I really loved my Fitbit. It was like a cross between a BodybuggSP and a Pedometer. I had one, and I unfortunately sent it through a trip in the washing machine. It actually still worked, but the battery life was very bad. Someone donated one to me, and I loved it (it was the new fitbit ultra), and it track not only steps, but stairs, and it has a bult in timer, and can track you sleep. It was a very cool tool, and I didn’t realize how much of a motivational tool it was until I didn’t have it. I finaly dug out my old Omron unit (which was a good unit, but not as fun as the fit bit), and I found out that I was only taking about 3,00 steps a day.

With this in mind, I’ve defintely added a fitbit to my Wish list for Santa.

In the meantime you might want to consider purchaisng some Stuff Bak stickers (that increase your chance of getting something back that you lost by 70%). Use the coupon code Dave10

Are there Times When Weight Loss Should Not Be Attempted?

As I’m up three lbs since our last podcast, I started to wonder if there are time when we should put off weight loss until we have other priorities in palce. When I think about Maslow’s Heirchy of needs, the first one is shelter, food, safety, etc. Recently with my job situation this has been a huge concern (we are actually moving into a less expensive housing). So I thought, maybe its wong to try and lose weight now. I’m so focused on this other very important NEEDS that i’m really setting myself up for failure.

This is dangerous thinking. Whenever we give ourselves the “I’ll do it later” or “It’s ok,” light we open up the flood gates to future health issues. I live in Cleveland. We haven’t had a sports championship team here in my lifetime (I beleive the browns won before I was born).  Howver, year after year our teams take the field knowing that they are probably not going home with a trophy. They still play to win. You don’t win if you don’t try. While you may not be moving forward as fast as you want, you are not aiding the urge to move backwars towards unhealthy habits and meals. Never give up.

What do you think? Are there times when you should put weight loss on hold, so you can get the rest of your life together? Is it pointless?

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We start off with some stats from the Biggest Loser.

Americans eat 24 pounds of candy a year.

We spend 44 dollars a year on Halloween candy.

20 Million pounds of candy corn sold every year.

Check out the calories of some of the worst Halloween candy.

The Truth About Eggs

In a nutshell, Eggs don’t deserve the bad wrap they get. The bad part of the Egg is the yolk, but if you eat 2 eggs (or less) a day in conjunction with a low-fat diet you’re fine and enjoy the many benefits of eggs. For me, I just hard boil mine, and don’t eat the yolk. I found a great article about Eggs at Men’s Health.

Egg Cookers

I watched an Eggies commercial and got sucked into finding a way to microwave eggs and not have to deal with the Shells. In the end I’m not sure this exists. In doing some research, the eggies system is made for really small eggs. We don’t have really small eggs, and you still have to wait for the water to boil.

Currently I use an EggGenie. Which works well. It’s a great “hands off” way to cook eggs. In looking at Amazon.com they had some other options there is a Microwave Egg cooker which sounds like it works fine once you get the time right. Just be careful with the unit as its very hot when you take it out.

Other Topics

24 Hour Discount Coupons

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Today we have 10 tips from Olympic Athletes:

1. Workout Buddies

2. Track your progress – write it down. This can be in an electronic version, or something like a fitbook

3. Schedule your workouts. Treat it like a Doctors visit. If you don’t it more than likely will eventually be a Doctor’s visit.

4. Boring is OK. If your food works, there is nothing wrong with eating the same stuff.

5. A day of rest does not have to be 24 hours of couch surfing.

6. Have a goal in mind.

7. Find what works for you. Don’t worry if you look stupid.

8. Take Vitamins

9. Stay Hydrated. Carry water with you.

10. Diversify your fitness portfolio. Add multiple activities keeps things fresh.

Other items mentioned in this episode:

Sleep Timing at http://sleeptiming.com/  (I use my Fitbit to track my time, and to analyze the quality of my sleep)

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Back in the day my grandmother had silverware that was made of silver. When we did the big Christmas dinner I got stuck polishing the silverware. It took some good old fashioned elbow greese (even with Tarn-X), but eventually the silver would shine through.

As we go through life, we make mistakes. It’s called being human. We can only hope that we learn from them. However, we often get stuck looking backwards, and we are fixated on the past. When we do this we miss all the wonderful things that are happening TODAY. There is a reason after all that the windshield of your car is big and the rearview mirror is small. All we see is the tarnish. The extra weight on our bodies is not permanent. All we need to do is apply some “elbow grease” at the gym, or on the sidewalk, and at the dinner table, and we will scrub off the tarnish of our lives. Underneath the guilt, regret, and sadness there is a shing example of a person. When we look at the tarnish, and don’t believe we are silver, we lose the motivation to polish ourselves and instead of revealing the silver, we tac on the tarnish. It all starts with your brain. Just realize you are not your mistakes.

My step-son had band practice and I watched them do the same 64 beats of a song over and over and over. The band leader said, “Remember in band camp I said practice makes permanent.” This is true. The more we do the wrong things, the better we get at them. So it was his job to point out their mistakes and get them on the right path. Over and over and over they practiced “Hey Jude” (a strange selection for a marching band), but they eventually got. Then they did it again to make sure it wasn’t a mistake. This practice of doing it over and over and over is like polishing the silver. You wipe and wipe. Is it clean? Wipe some more. Clean now? Wipe, wipe, wipe, and wipe some more. It takes some effort, but in the end the silver will come through.

We listen to a clip from Hannah who won the Biggest Loser, and she said, “No more excuses. This is my fault, and it ends now. It starts today.” She bagan moving, and in the end lost 120 pounds.

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I found this great article, and told Jane she should start a podcast. Until then here they are

Attitude
Balance
Consistency
Decision
Energy
Flexiibility
Grattitude
Help
Imangination
Joy
K.I.S.S.
Listen
Motivation
NO
Opportunity
Plan
Questions
Reading
Survivor
Today
Umbrella
Victories
XYLITOL
Yearning
Zest

New Fitbit Utlra has new Features

The fitbit now has a click, stopwatch, and it not only tracks steps, but also how many of those were stairs, in addition to tracking sleep and other activity.

The fitbit goes for $99 and the website is free. If you want additional stats on the website (like the ability to track multiple goals) it’s $49 a year.

For more information go to www.logicalloss.com/fitbit

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This week we have a slightly shorter show. We discuss 10 ways to burn 100 calories, and we talk about the myTrek from Scosche.

10 Ways to Burn 100 Calories

1. Clean the windows of your House
2. Do some gardening
3.  Play with your dog
4. Do some ironing
5.  Decorate the house
6. Wax you car
7. Walk
8. Cycle to Work (I love this suggestion)
9. Try Aerobics
10. Swimming

Most of these take less than 30 minutes. If you do one a day, and two on the weekends you will lose a pound in a month.

What is a myTrek?

 The Scosche myTrek is a wireless hear rate monitor that works with your iPhone or iPod touch (at this point the Droid users are bummin’). What it does is you strap it to your forearm (no wires, no chest strap) and it sends your pulse via blue tooth to your iPhone or iPod touch.

You enter your information about your age, weight, and set your target heart rate zones. You then import your music from your iPhone or iPod touch and start your workout. Your music begins to play, and your heart rate is displayed in real-time as you workout. It also displays your duration, and as you workout there is a color bar. Each color represents a zone. This makes it very easy to see if you are in the correct training zone. If you’re not where you want to be you’ll know as the software will audibly tell you what zone you are in (kind of like having a coach in your ear). When you are done it gives you a summary of your workout including calories burned, duration, and using the GPS on the iPhone or iPod touch the distance traveled.

If you are a person who listens to music on their iPhone or iPod touch, this would be a great addition to help keep you motivated and “nudge” you out of the “mailing it in zone.”

Scosche IPTM myTREK - Wireless Pulse Monitor List Price: $129.99 Price: $69.89 Read Reviews

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I am very excited to have the Biggest Loser back on television (even without Jillian Michaels). I do believe that Anna Kournikova is there for her smile more than her training capabilities, but I’m trying to keep an open mind. On the other hand they have a third trainer (who got no love before the first episode – who knew?) named Dolvett Quince. Based on his look alone, everyone went “I’ll take him over Anna. That made me kind of feel bad for her, but this dude is IN SHAPE.

Here is some more about Dolvett:

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Motivational Quote

Here is a great motivational quote:

Nothing in the world can take place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent
- Calvin Coolidge

Me & My Chair: The No Excuses Workout Read Reviews

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I walking by my elementary school that I attended 40 years ago. It looks like a war zone. They’ve moved the kids to a new school and there are plans to turn it into a community center. There used to be giant trees. There was a new playground, and its just a giant mess. All the windows are gone, and all thats left is a dumpster and mounds of dirt. What used to say “Otis C. Hatton School” now only reads “    oo “. If you were to just look at this building today you would go “Holy Cow what happened? = Something hit this thing!” We often look in the mirror and go “Holy Cow What Happened?”

Well I’m sure someone has a blueprint and a plan to turn this war zone into a great community center. If you look in the mirror and go “Oh my God, What Happened?” Its time to get a blule print and a plan. The easy to remember is to eat less and exercise more.

Plans mean you have to sit back and figure out what the hurdles will be, and how you will over come them. I’m sure the construction guys have benchmarks to knwo if they are ahead of schedule or not. They track their progress, they have milestones. You can do the same thing, but you need to be honest and track what you are (and more importantly) are not doing. For me tracking my food is crucial. When I don’t, my weight goes up. I keep switching programs. Right now I’m using Lose it! which works on their website, an iPhone or an Android phone. There are all sorts of programs (even paper and pencil) in our resource section.

For tracking my activity I use a Fit bit. This thing smacks me in the face every day with a graph of time when I was sitting. OOFAH! I can’t argue with it. Here again, I need to put it on as soon as I get up, and leave it on to be accurate. I had a body bug. I loved it. But the fit bit is simpler, (and doesn’t require $10 a month). I still have the body bug and may use it in the future.

Get A Team – Find an Accountability

Partner

People who had a support group were 42% more likely to be successful than those people who had no support.

Birds of a feather flock together, and if you hang out with people with bad habits you are 57% more likely to follow them into the bad habits (from the book Just 10 LBS. When I was college, I would go out and drink with my buddies. I did this every Tuesday and Thursday. I fellt it was what I was “supposed” to do as a 20 something year old college student. After three months, I just thought if Jesus walked in right now he would be disappointed. So I quit going. My firends kept going, and we were not as close as we used to be (we are still friends 20 years later). I lived when I did that, and I found healthier things to do. I survivedwithout those friends.

One of the things I really like about the Lose it! application is that (on the wbesite) they have a “motivators” section where you can set it up to email your accountability partner to receive reports every day, or every week. This means you have to enter in every calorie you eat. It doesn’t do any good to enter your 1500 calories into the software then eat 2500 calories.

If birds of a feather flock together find the fit people at work, school, church, and ask them how they stay in shape. Maybe they are doing activities you can participate in as well. Maybe they will mentor you. Maybe, just maybe you’ll get a new friend.

Would You Pay For An Accountability Partner?

Someone said I should start a serivce where I could be your accoutability coach. We could have weekly meetings online. I like this idea. I can’t do it for free. What would you pay for a weekly accountability partner? Leave a comment below or email me at dave@logicalloss.com I like the idea.

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Turn on the TV, and you will see person after person being  criticized, critiqued, voted off, etc. It doesn’t matter if their going to be the next American top model, idol, voice, chief, dancer, etc. If you turn on the television you will find a group of other people judging one another. No wonder we feel self conscious when we go to a gym.

Sometimes if even comes from our parents. Teenage girls who said their parents made comments about their weight are twice as likely as their peers to be highly concerned about their appearance a year later. Many times lighthearted comments leave a lasting impression.

We look at magazines, and we want to look like the people on the pages. Realize the people on the pages don’t look like he people on the pages. Also, realize the average American woman is is five feet four inches tall, and weighs 140 lbs. The average model is five feet eleven inches tall and weighs 117 lbs. This makes her thinner than 98 percent of the American women. It is pointless to compare yourself to someone who you have a two percent genetic chance of looking like.

When it comes to living in a world of judges, in the immortal world of Cee Lo green, “Forget” them. This again is where we need to focus on losing that next lbs. Don’t worry about the other 29 or whatever you need to lose. Lets focus on the next pound.

Stopping Your Own Progress

We do judge ourselves. Remember this: you’re not done. If someone tells you, “Wow it looks like you’ve lost weight,” don’t think to yourself  “you need glasses” accept that compliment. You are blessed with a body. You may not have taken care of it like you should’ve, but your body is beautiful.

Think of all the helpful things your body does. Your ears listen to friends. Your eyes read books. Your arms give supportive hugs. When you hear yourself start to deliver negative self talk, stop it, and replace it with something positive. Instead of “My thighs are huge,” replace it with “My thighs love to walk.”

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Jillian’s Unlimited Playlist

Jillian Michaels has a book out that deals with dealing with your mental hurdles. It’s called unlimited. She recently put out an Unlimited the playlist. I like some of these songs as a way to build up your mental strengths. You can have a workout list of songs that get you up and pumping, but you can also get songs that pick you up. They can be a mental “You can do it” list. Here are the list of tunes.

Don’t forget you can get Jillian’s book Unlimited as an audio book read by Jillian herself for free by going to audibletrial.com/dave

at Amazon

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Today I share some insight from chapter three of the book Just 10 LBS: Easy Steps to Weighing What You Want (Finally) which talks about starting a daily practice. Here are some tips.

1. Get rid of the clutter. When your house is a mess its stressful. When you’re cleaning you’re not sitting on the couch.

2. Start the day thinking about how your day will go. Think about how it will feel to be thin. How you will look. Think about what you will do.

3. Prayer. Studies show people that prayer lost more weight that those who didn’t. I believe because you don’t feel so alone, and you can rely on God’s strength to boost yours.

4. Affirmations – The idea is to get your say started in a positive way.

5. Have the reason WHY you want to lose weight firmly in place.

6. End the day with an attitude of gratitude and think of three things at the end of the that you are grateful for. This could be your Dog, Your Roof, Parents, etc. End the day on a positive note.

7. Focus on the next pound. Not the total amount you need to lose.

When you feel better about yourself then you feel you are worth the effort it takes to lose weight (just thinking positively will not do it alone )

Associate producer

Judith Clark from the UK. Thank’s for supporting the show Judith.

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I’ve tried Fitoracy, and this is a cool site. It combines community, and competition. We’ve talk about creating contests like the biggest loser, etc. you could use this site to inspire people to exercise. You earn points for exercising. When I walked for an hour I earned 100 points. When I did 30 sit-ups I earned 15 points. Its a great way to get addicted to exercise. If you like the point system on Spark People, then this takes that concept without the tons of advertising that you get on spark people. It does not thing with food tracking. It just rewards points for exercise. Contact me if you want an invitation.

Killing the “I Can’t Change” Myth

Maybe you’ve been overweight all your life. Maybe its been years since you’ve been at your target weight. This does not mean that being lift is no longer an option. While a leopard can’t change its spots, it can run in a different direction. George Burns didn’t win his first Oscar till he was 80. Julia Child didn’t start her TV show until she was 40. You CAN change. Are you the same at 33 that you were at 15? No we mature, and our life experiences help us focus. We just need to consistently work at eating less and exercising more.

Part of changing yourself you need to come up with a “Why” you need to change. If you have a firm grasp on the WHY you can put up with the WHY.

Associates Producers:
Alice Yovich
Theresa Reed

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Today we talk about Emotional eating with tips from the book Just 10 lbs. There are many reasons we eat. Many of us eat for emotional reasons. This book has great tips on overcoming and dealing with the mental reasons you eat. its written by an addict (of both drugs and food). It even has some free tools that you can find at http://changeinstitute.com/tools/ (you have to sign up for their email list, but its free – I’ll be talking about it more in the future).

Take it down to one decision at a time

I want you to find ONE thing to do differently this week. Find one thing that will be easy to do, and do it. I am also setting small two lbs goals for me (which has worked from 212, 210, 208). I celebrate these goals, and I now feel momentum.By having one small thing to focus on, we don’t get overwhelmed and we can continue on in the right direction. Then next week we can add one more little thing to do that will help us in our weight loss journey.

Find Something About Yourself That’s Good

For whatever reason, we love to bear ourselves up. Instead of finding that one thing that we did wrong and focusing on that, why not find a few things we LIKE about ourselves and focus on those. We can change things about ourselves over time, but we do need to like ourselves so we feel confident, and love ourselves. So many times we get hung up on that one wrong thing, and we want to give up. Instead focus on one thing that is positive about yourself.

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Today we hear from Karen who says, “Dear Dave,        I want thank you and to tell you the inspiration you have been to me. I have battled weight issues all my life and prior to April 2010 I had all but given up and then I stumbled upon you at Logical Weight loss,  you said don’t look at losing 100 pounds, look at it like losing 10 pounds ten times. I had never looked at it like that, and said to myself I can do that. So as of today I have lost 110 pounds, I’m not done, but feel so much better than I did 15 months ago. You make a huge difference in our lives.”

The key to this is she got her head in the game first. Then her body followed. She used fitday at first and later switched to Sparkpeople.com

Fitbit Review

In the past I’ve tried out the Lifesource 20-XL which you put on your shoe. It wirelessly transmitted data to their website. It was around $30. Then I switched to the Omron HJ-720ITC which allowed me to send data (via a cord )to my computer and make stats of my walking. the price of that is around $38.52. Now I’m playing with a fitbit. This is a great little tool. It’s like a pedometer on steroids. It uses the same sensors found in a Nintendo Wii to make sure its accurate. It tracks your activity, and wirelessly transmit your data to the fitbit website. The best part? The website is free (unlike a bodybugg where the website is $10 am month). There are some premium reports at fitbit.com that you have to purchase,d but they are only $49 a YEAR.

The thing I like about the fitbit is its size. Small enough to not get in the way, but big enough to not lose all the time. My Omron unit always falls off wherever I clip it (it even comes with a second clip to catch the unit when the first one fails). The fitbit clip is well engineered to make sure it doesn’t fall off, and yet its comfortable. Seeing the display is a breeze. You press a button and toggle through the stats that show the number of steps, the miles you’ve walked, the calories you’ve burned, and a flower that indicated how active you’ve been during the day.

The one thing that surprised me was the fitbit website. This is especially true of their food logging. As I thought this was a primary pedometer function, food was an after thought. They have a nice database, and finding and logging food was easy. There is a mobile version of the website so you can enter food on your phone. Not my favorite interface, but it worked.

The fitbit charges quickly, and the charge lasts for days. You will not be worrying about having it go dead.

The fitbit also monitors your sleep. I found this to be very interesting and also eye opening. I didn’t realize I was getting between 5 and 6 hours sleep a night.

It also does a good job of letting you see just how much of your day is spent sitting down.

What the Fitbit doesn’t do

If you compare this to the Omoron unit its a no brainer. The tracking of the sleep is enough to validate the extra expense. But if you compare it to the Bodybugsp, you will see where a bodybugg is more accurate (as a bodybugg measures activity, temperature, and sweat). So if you go for a bike ride, the Bodybugg will be able to calculate accurate calories burned. The fitbit will not (as you’re sitting down). However on the fitbit website you can easily go in and “tell” the software that you went bike riding and keep your stats active.  On the other hand the bodybuggsp is $100 more and cost $10 more a month to use.

If your worried about accuracy, I’m using the fitbit in conjunction with Lose it! (which I talked about on a previous podcast). The best thing about this is Lose it! calculate what it thinks  you burned based on your age, height and weight. Lose it! looks at the data from the fitbit and determines the more accurate number. Very cool. Connecting it to Lose it! took all of about four mouse clicks. Well thought out, and well executed.

Conclusion

If your a stat junky like me you will love the fitbit. Their website allows you to track anything. The easy to read display is a great motivator (yes even the flower). It’s ease of use is out of this world, and the sleep diagnosis was an added bonus that provides insights into sleep (a vital piece of the weight loss puzzle). I LOVED The fact that I NEVER had to worry about this thing falling off, and that its very accurate when tracking steps. Yes its more expensive than a basic pedometer, but for me its well worth it. For more information go to fitbit.com

Jillian Michaels Endorsing RIP60 System that Puts P90X to Shame

Jillian Michaels used to work with the TRX system on the Biggest Loser. Now she is working with the people at Rip60. This is very similar but comes with a TON of DVDs, nutrition guide, carrying bag, and more. The other bonus is the TRX system is around $200 where the Rip60 system comes in at $139. If you are looking for an inexpensive, potable way to put on some muscle (and ladies it won’t bulk you up), the you may want to check out Rip60.

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I have talked about Lose it! the book in the past.

Back in the day, I remember hearing about this great iPhone app called Lose it! It was free and had been download a bajillion times. Then they came out with a book. The book is filled with great common sense advice, but it really made me wish I had an iphone, or they had a droid app.

It has come to my attention that there is now a BETA version of Lose it! for the android. All you have to do to get a copy (free) is send an email to info+android “at” loseit.com (spelled out to avoid spam) and include this info:

1. Name
2. Email Address (if you have a loseit.com account please send us this email address)
3. Phone model
4. Android Version
5. Why you would make a good beta tester

(Emails missing this information will not be considered.)

Not everyone can get in on the beta, but its worth a shot. I was able to get my copy and I am stoked.

Why Lose it is Cool

They took a lesson from the folks at Apple and made a cool interface. They looked at their target goal of their audience and said, “What are these people doing?” and the answer is tracking their calories and exercise. So they set up an interface to make that easy. When I login I get a progress bar. If its green, I’m good. It its red, I better start walking, jogging, cycling, etc to burn some calories.

They have all the things that help motivate you. They have the progress bar which makes it easy to view today, this week (VERY COOL), and your overall goals. I can also see the percentage of nutrients for the day and week (so if I’m counting carbs, etc its all here).

For being a beta version, I have not had a problem and it syncs what appears to be instantly with their website the minute I make a change.

For the record entering food is easy as pie. I may make a video about that. Also, if you are like me (and eat the same stuff over and over) its insanely easy. For example I eat two cups of Post raisin Bran and a cup of skim milk for breakfast in the morning. I set this up as a recipe, and breakfast is done in about three clicks now.

My favorite feature that I have not seen in ANY other food tracking software is a built in accountability partner alert. I can go in and have it send my food log and exercise log to my wife. Would knowing that your actions are being sent to a partner make you think twice before slamming a box of Oreos? Now for the record, that feature is on their website (not in the app), the synchronization of the app and the website make it seem like it’s all one big tool. In fact there isn’t much the app can’t do that the website can (a few reports, and alerts, but that’s it).It also ties into your twitter account and facebook as well (which most calorie tracking programs do).

What’s Missing From Lose it!?

After using Calorie Counter (from fatsecret.com) and Myfitnesspal.com I have to say that ability to scan a barcode and have it apear in the software is a must have. The good news is its already on the list of improvements along with a way to track water consumption (my other suggestion).

Other than that not much. They have a way to view food based on restaurant. This was great the other night when I went to Longhorn steak house. The bad news is I would add one thing, and then take 4 clicks to get back to the Longhorn details (a check box option would be nice here, I ate “this, this, and this” save – like myfitnesspal).This is solved by just searching for “Flo’s Filet” and it came right up.

Other things that are coming to Lose it! is the ability to sync your fitbit wireless activity tracker (very cool tool if you can’t afford the bodybugg). So you will have your  Withings Wifi Body Scale that syncronizes (so your weight will show up automatically) your fitbit will put  in your activity, and all you do is enter your food.

If you’re looking for the iPod app you can find it here:

If your interested in the book, here it is

Lose It!: The Personalized Weight Loss Revolution List Price: $21.99 Price: $0.18 Read Reviews

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I’m not sure why I gained week last week. I hit my 10,000 steps a day many days. My calories were close to being on target. My sleep was poor. Hmm.. maybe I do, but don’t want to hold myself accountable.

I think this is the topic for the next logical weight loss podcast this week. We sugar coat things. We think they are not that bad. I’m going to go back and look at my calories (I have been religiously putting them into my fitness pal). I bet I’m worse than I remember. When I looked at my calories (see chart) I was over my goal 52% of the time. Hello?

Jimminy Crickey in Pinocchio had a song about your conscience being your guide. One verse was

Take the straight and narrow path
And if you start to slide
Give a little whistle! Give a little whistle!
And always let your conscience be your guide

Notice the path is narrow. The bible says that few people walk the narrow path. These means not everyone is doing it. It means it not easy. It’s simple. Not easy. (eat less exercise more).

We all have a conscience. We know when we buy the Hostess Ho Ho’s all the way to the checkout that these should not be in our cart. Instead of listening to our conscience, we choose what WE want. I want the Ho Ho. I just had an argument with my spouse and felt bad. Did I know this was wrong? Yes. My reason to make it ok? I’ll walk it off tonight.

Tonight came. I walked. But not enough to burn of the Ho Hos.

So earlier in the week my weight was up to 214. The highest its been in a long, long time. I originally didn’t log it here as I didn’t want to see my name at the bottom of the competition list. But I wasn’t hiding anything. Not logging my weight doesn’t make it magically disappear.

My watch started to fit snugly. My pants were strained. I pulled muscles in my back.

I had pushed my weight issues away, and tried to fix my life by self medicating through food. But just like a boomerang, my weight issues came back to the front of my life. I’ve told myself before, if you’re not hungry food is not the answer. We try to hit the snooze button on our weight loss. Thinking it will somehow fix itself. This brings up a great question. Are you ever happy after hitting the snooze button? I’m not. This means I have to hurry in the shower, or skip breakfast, or in general – be rushed. This is not a great way to start the day. You hear the alarm go off, and you’re like, “I know, let’s start the day with some procrastination.”

I ignored the little voice in my head. It typically is right. If I did what it says most of the time, I believe I would be lighter. Instead I do what I want. I pretend my weight problems can be “paused” but they come back.

Last night I set an alarm to GO to bed so I would get at least 7 hours. I turned off the alarm, and went back to my computer “for just another minute” that lasted 60. Today I am so tired, I reached for the mountain dew 290 calories in the wrong way. I didn’t listen to my conscience. I did what I wanted instead.

So today I am telling myself to start listening to my conscience. Look at weight loss as a “one choice at a time” and the other thing I need to do is get some sleep.

Give a Little Whistle in iTunes

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I apologize – I accidentally posted an episode from my School of Podcasting Podcast. Thanks to Fred from the Struggling Entrepreneur podcast for the heads up.

I am listening to the Success Principles by Jack Canfield (You can use this as one of your free audiobooks at www.audibletrial.com/dave ) and at the beginning of the book he talks about personal accountability. In a previous episode I talked about how accountability is the springboard to change. Nobody is putting a gun to our head to eat that Big Mac. Our responses are our responsibilities.

In the book he brings out a formula that is so simple, and yet so true.

E+R=O

Events plus Response equals outcome. (I think I say output in the podcast).

The events are those things that we often have no control over. People, weather, etc are included here. Then there is our response to these. This is the ONLY Thing we can control. The output is the success or failure we have based on how well we responded to the events in our life.

So may times we don’t do things because its not exactly like we want. What a bunch of crap. Do what you can with what you have and worry about things being perfect later. You can do this. If you are not getting the outcome you want, change your response.

Here is an article Jack penned about the subject.

If you don’t like the outcomes you are currently experiencing, there are two basic choices you can make:

1.) You can blame the event (E) for your lack of results (O).

In other words, you can blame the economy, the weather, the lack of money, lack of education, racism, gender bias, the current administration in Washington, your wife or husband, your boss’s attitude, the lack of support, and so on.

If you’re a golfer, you’ve probably even blamed your clubs!

No doubt all these factors exist, but if they were the deciding factor, nobody would ever succeed. For every reason it’s not possible, there are hundreds of people who have faced the same circumstances and succeeded.

It’s not the external conditions and circumstances that stop you — it’s you!

We think limiting thoughts and engage in self-defeating behaviors. We defend our self-destructive habits (such as drinking and smoking) with indefensible logic.

We ignore useful feedback, fail to continuously educate ourselves and learn new skills, waste time on the trivial aspects of our lives, engage in idle gossip, eat unhealthy food, fail to exercise, spend more than we make, fail to tell the truth, don’t ask for what we want, and then wonder why our lives aren’t working.

2.) You can instead simply change your responses (R) to the events (E) until you get the outcomes (O) you want.

You can change your thinking, change your communication, change the pictures and you hold in your head (your images of the world) and you can change your behavior (the things you do.) That’s all you really have any control over anyway.

Unfortunately, most of us are so run by our habits that we never change our behavior. We get stick in out conditioned responses-to our spouses and children, to our colleagues at work, to our customers and our clients, to our students, and to the world at large.

You have to gain control of your thoughts, your images, your dreams and daydreams, and your behavior.

Everything you think, say, and do needs to become intentional and aligned with your purpose, your values, and your goals.

If you don’t like your outcomes, change your responses.

Here’s an example of how this works:

Do you remember the Northridge earthquake in 1994? I do! I lived through it in Los Angeles. Two days later I watched as CNN interviewed people commuting to work, The earthquake had damaged one of the main freeways leading into the city. Traffic was at a standstill, and what was normally a 1-hour drive had become a 2-3 hour drive.

The CNN reporter knocked on the window of one of the cars stuck in traffic and asked the driver how he was doing.

He responded, angrily, “I hate California. First there were fires, then floods, and now an earthquake! No matter what time I leave in the morning, I’m late for work. I can’t believe it!”

Then the Reporter knocked on the window of the car behind him and asked the driver the same question. This driver was all smiles.

He replied “It’s no problem. I left my house at five am. I don’t think under the circumstances my boss can ask for more than that. I have lots of music and Spanish-language tapes with me. I’ve got my cell phone. Coffee in a thermos, my lunch-I even have a book to read. I’m fine.”

Now, if the earthquake or the traffic were really the deciding variables, then everyone should have been angry. But everyone wasn’t.

It was their individual response to the traffic that gave them their particular outcome. It was thinking negative thoughts or positive thoughts, leaving the house prepared or leaving the house unprepared that made the difference. It was all a matter of attitude and behavior that created their completely different experiences.

If we all experience the same EVENT, the OUTCOME you get will be totally dependent upon your RESPONSE to the situation.

If you want to take control of how you respond to life, you’ll start noticing that your outcomes will be more along the lines of what you have always hoped. Remember, you control your destiny so make it a fantastic one!

—

Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

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Here comes the next craze. The 17 diet. I’m sure a meal plan, membership site, and calorie counter will be coming soon. We see this every year. Remember the belly diet of last year?

My step daughter’s  future mother-in-law has lost some weight, she is going to go on the diet. Why? Because people go on it and lost pounds. To this I beg people to figure out pounds of WHAT? Muscle? Fat? Water?

Without knowing a single thing about this book, I know its going to say to eat less (more than likely a lot less) and exercise more. unfortunately, it will cut your calories way back. Then your body starts to eat its own muscles, and when you go off the diet you have a “smaller furnace” to burn calories. Then what happens? You gain the weight back (and probably gain more than you lost). So what happens next? You go on another “diet” and the cycle repeats. Meanwhile the yo-yo dieting damages your metabolism.

According to Amazon.com the book has four 17 day cycles. These include:

Accelerate—the rapid weight loss portion that helps flush sugar and fat storage from your system

Activate—the metabolic restart portion with alternating low and high calorie days to help shed body fat

Achieve—this phase is about learning to control portions and introducing new fitness routines

Arrive—a combination of the first three cycles to keep good habits up for good. On weekends, enjoy your favorite foods!

Have we not seen the phrase “Enjoy your favorite foods” before?

Dealing With Sore Muscles – Does this mean it was a good workout?

According to fitness trainer to the starts Harley Pasternak it is. If its just “simple sore muscles” (known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) ) then you are fine. You are taking actions that are going to result in growing muscles (which burn more calories). However, if (for example) your one shoulder hurts more than another it may be more than simple muscle soreness. It may be an injury.

Harley Pasternak Top 4 Tips to Reducing DOMS
1. Warm Up. “Increase body temperature to help prepare your muscles for the shock of an intense workout,” Pasternak says.

2. Stay Hydrated. “A lack of electrolytes can make muscles sore,” Pasternak says, who recommends drinking easily digested fluids so you can power up and avoid an upset stomach. “Look for beverages with no protein or stimulants like Powerade Zero.” (And steer clear of these 10 worst drinks for your body!)

3. Ice Sore Muscles. “Have a cold pack handy to reduce pain and inflammation,” Pasternak says. ACE has an Instant Cold Compress that’s super convenient. “Give it a twist and you’ve got instant ice.”

4. Do Cardio. “A cardio workout increases blood flow and acts as a filter system. It brings nutrients like oxygen, protein, and iron to the muscles that you’ve been training and helps them recover faster. As the blood leaves the muscles, it takes some of the metabolic bi-products with it (like carbon dioxide and lactic acid) that may be causing DOMS.”

Souce: Shine

Mentioned in this Episode

What’s holding you back

New Podcast From Dave, “Feeding My Faith” – God Made Simple

Amy Parham New Book – 10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl

The Logical Loss Weight Loss Wars at www.logicalloss.com/compete

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Today I’m talking about the benefits of counting your calories (which I previously mentioned in the blog).

I also relay some people have about Street Strider (read feedback)

My Fitness Pal Reviewed

In trying myfitnesspal.com my first impression was good. It’s easy to use, and I answered a few questions and my account was setup. As I’ve used previous tools such as fatsecret.com, and sparkpeople.com, and dailyburn.com and many others listed in the tracking resources. The thing I liked about this website is it had all the things I like such as

Active community

Easy food entry

HUGE food database

Tracking of exercise

Tracking of Water

I also like that you can add notes about food and exercise. It even has the ability to take your phone and scan the barcode and have that food added to your food diary. Now if you don’t have a smart phone (it runs on iphone, droid, and blackberry) you can use their website alone.

I’ve used Sparkepople.com in the past and I still use it form time to time, but I view Sparkepeople as the MySpace of weight loss sites. MySpace was a great site for finding music and a great way for musicians to interact with their audience. Then they added a little more, and a little more, and a little more, and a little more, and they ruined it. To me, myfitnesspal.com is very similar to Sparkpeople except they are sticking with just the stuff I like (and not the stuff I need like a listing of all diseases ever discovered, etc).

Motivation: Finding What Motivates You

Only you can motivate you. If someone puts a gun to your head YOUR fear of death inspires you to do whatever the ask.  I was being tempted one day, and I really needed something to motivate me to stay away from the snickers bar. I’m a technical trainer, and one of the “Core Values” that make Dave Jackson – Dave Jackson is I like to help people. I was there hearing the calling of the vending machine, and instead I thought of one of my audience members asking, “Can you help me lose weight by being an example?” While I have a hard time putting myself first (in terms of eating right), I will pull away from the twinkie if it means it will help one of you. I know. that’s weird, but right now it works. Isn’t that what really matters? We always change with the curves that life throws our way, so what works today may not work next month, but as long as we keep trying, we will be very hard to beat. Find out what makes you tick. Find out what inspires you, and see if you can’t tie that into motivating you to eat better, and exercise more.

Weight Loss Wars Start May 1

The Logical Weight Loss War is starting May 1st. We are using Weight Loss Wars to handle the administration. It’s only .11 a day. Enjoy the competition and community around out new challenge. Go to www.logicalloss.com/compete

Help support the show. Be in our top spots or drop us a donation, simply go to www.logicalloss.com/support all support is deeply appreciated.
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We are starting a weight loss challenge starting May 1 2011. This is going to be our first time testing out the Weight Loss Wars website. It’s only 10 bucks to sign up, and then each week we will weigh in and on July 31, we will crown a winner with the percent with the greatest percentage of weight loss winning teeth whitening (and they will be smiling as they won).

This has all the tools to make this great. You have the support of having a team of people working toward a goal (weight loss). You have the spark of competition to urge us on. You have the accountability of graphs and charts that are created for you by the weight loss wars system.

There is a $10 maintenance fee (or you can participate for free if you fill out a survey, etc).

I’m pumped!

To sign up go to www.logicalloss.com/compete

Help support the show. Be in our top spots or drop us a donation, simply go to www.logicalloss.com/support all support is deeply appreciated.
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Jillian’s new book Unlimited is on the books shelves, on the Kindle, and even out as an unabridgged audio book (and for me, I love the passion in Jillian’s voice). Well our friends at audible have worked up a deal where you can get one free audiobook and a 14 free trial by going to www.audibletrial.com/dave I’ve already checked and the book is available. You can go over and download it and start listening immediately. Cancel any time within the first 14 days, and keep the book. If you don’t cancel you can download her other books like Mastor Your Metabolism and only pay $14.95 a month (for the record audio books are typically 20 bucks). You also save 30% on any additional books you want to purchase. It’s a good deal. To get your free audio book go to  http://logicalloss.com/audibletrial

If you want the printed book (or Kindle version) its only $13 for the hard cover or Kindle version. Click the image to the left.

If you looking to get your mind in check, Lynn Terry had a great post about the book Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements. Which has an overall wellbeing test. Remember Positive Life Change doesn’t just happen to you. You have to be proactive about the things you want to change in your life. You can achieve a lot by doing little things that add up to big things. You have to do this. Don’t put this on someone else. Ask where you are and where you want to be. Pick ONE thing that will be a small step to get your towards your goal and do that TODAY>

Help support the show. Be in our top spots or drop us a donation, simply go to www.logicalloss.com/support all support is deeply appreciated.
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Accountability is accepting responsibility for your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It means you might have to slow down, and examine ourselves from an objective point of view. This means we have to admit, and accept when we do something wrong. This doesn’t mean we are a horrible person, it means there is room for improvement. If we don’t hold ourselves accountable, then we leave the door open to excuses. We take these excuses and believe they are legitimate reasons for not losing weight.

There are a number of things that stop us from accepting accountability. These include:

Blaming: If it wasn’t for ____ I’d be losing weight.

Minimalism: It’s only a couple of extra calories.

Denial: If I don’t write it down on my calorie tracking software, it means I didn’t eat it.

Don’t get overwhelmed when you look at your weight loss goals. Break them down into small steps. Break the steps into choices and take it one choice at a time. If you make a bad choice, don’t beat yourself up to bad. Instead hold yourself accountable, learn from your mistake, and start planning your next successful step.

Weight Loss Wars

I want to thank listener Pete who sent in a note that I should check out Weight Loss Wars.  This site ties in nicely with accountability. We’ve talked about how having a workout buddy can boost your weight loss as you hold each other accountable. We read in different books where having support groups can boost weight loss. We all will agree that a little healthy competition motivates us to do better. Weight loss wars ties in all of these.

I created an Excel spreadsheet for those looking to do a Biggest Loser Competition at work (or home or church) and it does all the weight calculations for you. What it DOESN’T do is enter all the info when everyone does a weigh in. It also doesn’t keep everyone up to date. This is where Weight Loss Wars takes care of that. Everyone updates their own information, and can easily see where they stand in the competition etc. This information can be as private or as public as you want it to be. I just discovering and signing up for this site, I like what I see. I may use this in the future to handle a new Logical Weight Loss challenge (maybe in May?)

In previous blog posts I had mentioned the Gym Boss Update and that there is no truth in advertising

Help support the show. Be in our top spots or drop us a donation, simply go to www.logicalloss.com/support all support is deeply appreciated.
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